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Consultancy services

Sands has been supporting bereaved families and the professionals who care for them for over 40 years. Our consultancy services can help your organisation to develop and implement best practice to ensure bereaved parents receive the support that they need when they need it most. We can support statutory, voluntary and corporate services on all issues relating to the death of a baby, ensuring that you have the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to support bereaved families.

For employers

What difficulties do bereaved parents face in the workplace?

A survey of bereaved parents by Sands in 2018 found that:

Only 22% were aware of their employer’s policies for supporting staff if their baby died.

42% did not feel supported by their employer to return to the same job.

27% were not contacted by their employer after their baby died.

38% of those contacted by their employer did not feel that their employer’s communication was sensitive and appropriate.

43% reported that no one talked to them about the death of their baby.

How Sands can help

Sands can provide a bespoke service to meet your organisation’s needs, including:

Development of appropriate policies to support bereaved staff who experience the death of a baby.

Information around legal entitlements to pay and leave following the death of a baby, and other sources of support.

Practical advice on how to support other employees affected by their colleague’s baby loss.

For healthcare services

We can support you to ensure that your organisation has a developed bereavement care service for parents who experience the death of a baby at any point during pregnancy or following birth. We will work in partnership with you to ensure that services are geared towards the needs of bereaved families.

Taking national guidelines as a starting point, we will work with you on the best ways for putting this into practice in often challenging environments, and ensuring that bereavement care is fully embedded within your services. Whether it is guidance on specific issues, the development of a parent-centred bereavement care service or broader training requirements for staff, we have the knowledge and expertise to help.